Feeding your curiosity is not necessary a bad thing.
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"Aza! You said you'd help me pick a dress for tonight." Taylor hollered at her friend, Azalea, who currently, like always, had her nose buried in a book. Azalea lazily lifted her head off of her arms and glanced at Taylor for a moment.
"The first one. Or the second."
Taylor placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at her friend. "So the blue or the green?"
"The green." Azalea stated dismissively, returning her focus to her latest choice of reading material.
"That was the third." Taylor stated in obvious annoyance.
Azalea sighed and closed her book, finally directing her attention to her redheaded friend. "I'm sorry, Tay, you know parties aren't my thing."
"Well you should do something. At this rate you'll graduate with your virginity still intact!" Taylor sounded horrified.
"Taylor!" The blonde girl exclaimed in disgust before sighing. "I'm not even technically a virgin. The first time I did my yearly physical, the doctor told me that I had probably tore it from exercise or something cause it wasn't there."
Taylor barked out a laugh. "What exercise? Reading while pacing around the library? You hate physical stuff."
Azalea shrugged. She picked up her book and reopened it. Taylor rolled her eyes, knowing that the conversation was over. "Oh yeah, um so if I pick anyone up from the party..."
The blonde groaned loudly. "Seriously, Tay? You're kicking me out of our room?"
"I'm not kicking you out!" Taylor stated defensively.
"So you want me to stay and listen to you and your boy toy get it on?" Taylor purses her lips and did not respond. Azalea sighed and began to pick up her book and gathered some blankets. "You have fun, okay? I'll be in the library. Just don't you dare do anything that I wouldn't do on my bed."
Taylor squealed and hugged her friend. "You're the best, Aza!"
"Call me if you need anything." Azalea turned and left the room.
She sighed in mild irritation as she made her way to the library. As much as she loved the library and viewed it as her second home, this would the third time this month that Taylor would bring a random boy into their dorm. She entered the library to immediately be greeted by the elderly librarian with a smile.
"Azalea! Staying the night?" She gestured at the blanket tucked under the girl's arm.
"Hi Ms. Rosen, yes I am."
The woman frowned. "I presume Miss White is having another one of her...partners over." Azalea sighed and nodded, walking over to one of the private reading rooms and laying her blanket down. "You know you can file a complaint to the dean."
Azalea's eyes widened slightly. "No, that's not necessary, Ms. Rosen. Taylor can be...a pain in the backside but she's my friend."
The librarian sighed. "Well let me know if you need anything." She walked away from the young girl.
Azalea immediately walked over to the bean bag chairs in the reading area and placed her blanket down before walking over to the shelves to pick a book. Azalea wandered to the fantasy section. She had always adored the mystical and magical stories within her childhood fairy tales. As she got older, she was entranced by books such as the Harry Potter series, the Chronicles of Narnia, and the Percy Jackson series. Oh how she envied the characters and their worlds!
As she scanned the shelves, a blue, leather-bounded book caught her eye. Azalea drew the book from the shelf. There was no title on the front. She flipped through the book and was surprised to discover that it was formatted partially like a book but with the addition of journal excerpts.
The Life and Disappearance of Princess Eviana Azaria Talia
Azalea began to read, and was soon completely captured by the book. She paid no mind to the time and did not put the book down until hours later. Azalea yawned as she finally glanced at her watch.
3:05. No wonder she was feeling sleepy. She eventually laid down the book and closed her eyes.
"Aza." Someone shook her gently. "Aza, c'mon, wake up." Azalea groaned and unwillingly opened her eyes. Taylor stood above her with an upset expression.
"What time is it?" Azalea winced at he pounding feeling in her head.
"Seven."
"That explains it. Why're you here so early?"
"Adrian's a jerk."
Azalea raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Adrian Reed? The quarterback who you've had a crush on since freshman year?"
"Yes." Taylor replied sadly, looking like a puppy who had been kicked.
Azalea suddenly felt the drowsiness leave her and clenched her hands into fists. "What did he do to you?"
"Well, it wasn't really what he did to me..."
"Tay, just spit it out."
The brunette looked away from her friend. "I saw him and the other guys pushing this freshman boy around so I told them to stop. He asked me to go to his dorm so that he could show me what a 'real man' was like. I told him I didn't want it this way so he turned on me and told everyone I was into little boys and would probably turn out to be some cougar lady."
"What happened after that?" Azalea growled.
"Most of the cheer team attacked him but I-I just went back to my dorm." She let out a quiet sob.
"And so..."
"I've been there alone for most of the night, crying. I-I'm sorry I woke you, but could you please come back?"
"Where is he?!" Seeing the broken look on her friend's face, Azalea sprang up, the book falling to the ground with a loud thud.
"Aza, calm down please!" Taylor pleaded. "I-I'm so lucky to have you as a friend." She burst into tears again and Azalea pulled her friend into a hug.
"I love you too." Azalea chuckled as she reached for her glasses. "But I swear if I see that boy..."
"He's not worth your time, and from what I've heard, nor is he worth yours either, Miss White." Ms. Rosen walked around the corner with a look of distaste on her face.
"Why don't you go back to the dorm, Tay? I'll be right there after I put away the books.
"Want me to grab your blanket?"
"Sure." She nodded and picked it up. Azalea handed the book to Ms. Rosen. "Can you check this out for me?"
"Of course, dear." She glanced at the book and frowned. "I've never noticed this book before. One of the few here that I haven't read." Azalea smiled knowingly. The two were similar in many ways. Ms. Rosen too, had a guilty pleasure of reading all the books that she could get her hands on.
"I'd better go check on Taylor." Azalea retrieved the book.
Ms. Rosen sighed guiltily. "Please excuse what I said last night, Azalea. It was very noble of Miss White to stand up for younger students getting bullied."
Azalea chuckled. "Oh don't worry. Taylor even warned me at the start of term in case I wanted to switch dorms. She's popular but she's very nice. Of course I think otherwise when she wakes me up at ungodly hours of the night, but she's an awesome friend." Azalea sighed quietly. Taylor was everything she hoped to be at times: confident, kindhearted, and outgoing. But other times she was perfectly confident with being herself with her obsession for books. "I'll see you soon, Ms. Rosen."
The older woman chuckled. "I don't doubt that, Azalea."
Azalea walked back to her dorm. The moment she rounded the hallway leading to her dorm, her eyes narrowed. A group of guys were walking down the hallway towards her. She immediately recognized the boy in the middle as Adrian Reed. The other boys with him were Trevor, Kyle, and Mason.
They were laughing and talking rather loudly. "Can't believe that b*tch actually stood up for that nerd. I'll get her for embarrassing me. She won't know what hit her."
The other boy Azalea recognized as Mason spoke. "I don't think you should dude, you already did enough last night... she's in phi kappa kappa too. She has a lot of influence."
Adrian's eyes narrowed as he turned to Mason. "You're saying that I should back down cause some little girl has more influence than me?"
"No shame in speaking the truth." Azalea mused as she walked up to them.
"Mind your own-"
He didn't get to finish his sentence because the much shorter blonde had punched him in the face. He groaned in pain and clutched his nose. The others, with the exception of Mason, advanced on her. "Before you try anything, let me tell you that I have a black belt in Jiu Jitsu and my father is the chief officer at the NYC Police Station."
Adrian snarled at the blonde and held up a hand to stop Kyle and Trevor. "I'll get you suspended, I swear."
"Sure. If you feel like telling everyone you got hit by a girl."
The room to Azalea's dorm suddenly opened. Taylor stuck her head out. "Aza? What's the matter?" She stiffened when she spotted Adrian. Azalea pushed past the boys and pulled her roommate back into the dormitory.
"Tay, are you alright?" Taylor sighed and nodded slowly. "Do you want to try and go back to sleep? It's still pretty early."
"I-I don't know if I can." Taylor groaned.
Azalea climbed onto her friend's bed. "Here, I'll be your teddy bear." She joked.
At this, Taylor giggled and joined Azalea on the bed. "Awww, aren't you sweet." The two girls cuddled and slowly fell back asleep.
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When Azalea woke up, she was alone. She sat up groggily and stretched. She noticed a note next to her on the nightstand.
Went to class. Didn't want to wake you up. You don't have any morning classes today, right?
Love you,
-Tay
Azalea smiled and rolled her eyes. She did have a class this morning, but she had already missed it. She got up from Taylor's bed and changed out of her pajamas. She walked over to her desk on her side of the room. Azalea groaned when she noticed that Taylor had left her notes all over her desk again. She sighed and collected the notes into a pile before dumping them into Taylor's desk at the opposite side of the room.
Just then, her phone rang. She picked it up without checking the caller ID. "Hello?"
"Aza! Want me to get you some lunch?" Taylor's cheerful tone sounded on the line.
"Sure, could you just grab a chicken salad?"
"Did you just wake up? What are you doing?"
"I'm cleaning your notes off my desk." Azalea huffed.
Taylor giggled. "Sorry, Aza. Must've moved them there the last time Tyler came over, cause we had to use my table-"
"EWWW!" Azalea shrieked, nearly dropping the phone. "Tay, I don't need to hear that!" Taylor chuckled softly over the phone, enjoying riling up her friend. Azalea picked up a book from her desk absentmindedly and ran her fingers over the cover. It was leather-bounded and had a certain mystical feel. "Since when did you read fairy tales, Tay? You left your book on my desk."
"What?"
Azalea read off the cover. "Morgan family history?"
Taylor chuckled again. "Aza, you know I don't read. You probably accidentally grabbed it the last time you checked out an entire section from the library and didn't notice."
"Alright, thanks. I'll just bring it back then." Azalea shrugged.
"See you soon." Taylor hung up.
Azalea ran her fingers over the cover again, feeling a strange energy go through her. She shivered and gingerly flipped open the cover.
The ancient kingdom of Afronave was ruled by the Morgan family for over a Millennia. The disappearance of the kingdom occurred during the rule of the last ruler, Queen Renée Morgan. Circumstances leading to its disappearance are unclear.
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*Edited*
💜Cindy💜